Giving
Endowment

The Leonard Kupersmith Endowment Fund

Dr. Kupersmith

Dr. Kupersmith joined CCES in 2006 as Associate Headmaster, served as Headmaster beginning in 2008, first alongside Lee Cox who served as President, and then as the sole leader of the school as Headmaster from 2010 until June of 2020, making him the longest serving Headmaster in the school’s history. During Leonard’s tenure, he exhibited integrity, grit, wisdom, and great depth of character when making important and sometimes difficult decisions to steer CCES in pursuit of excellence. His engagement in the community was unmatched, and we are fortunate to have had a leader who championed CCES’s academics, athletics, the arts, and Episcopal values and traditions.

Through his leadership in the Faith in the Future campaign, the athletic department improved its athletic facilities through a new track, extending the Linda Reeves Field to make room for the new lacrosse program, producing a new tennis facility, converting the former tennis courts into practice fields, and constructing the Robertson-Navarro Baseball Pavilion. That same campaign created the Achievement Center and, of course, the Hartness Performing Arts Center, providing parity to the arts. All of these efforts raised CCES’s academic, athletic, and arts programs to levels unsurpassed by its peers.
The opportunity to serve CCES has consummated my career as an educator. I am inspired by the school and humbled to serve it.
Also during his tenure, Leonard ushered in an era of great financial health for the school that permitted CCES to recruit and retain a superb faculty and staff. Exercising acumen in selection of a leadership team, Leonard assembled an outstanding administrative team, restructured the admissions and advancement offices, and streamlined the executive reporting structure. Leonard’s keen appreciation and deployment of the talents of colleagues drove his collaborative response to several purposeful initiatives and also reflected Leonard’s genuine desire to connect with others and his commitment to seeing that everyone in the CCES community feels a sense of belonging. It is said around campus that never has a Headmaster in the nearly 60-year history of CCES known the names, colleges attended, occupations, family members, and hobbies of so many students, parents, faculty, staff and other community members.

Leonard’s legacy at CCES endures, but perhaps nothing will be more durable or impactful than the 2017-2022 Strategic Plan. Leonard’s input was crucial during the gestation and birth of the plan, as he worked tirelessly for two years to bring the bold and dynamic Strategic Plan to fruition and now oversees its implementation. As the initiatives produce collaborative conversations and deliberate action, the Plan leverages the core values of the school, promotes common purpose, and enriches the daily experience of students and teachers. By 2022, the target for completion of the construction of new programs and inclusion of new personnel, this Plan will have touched the lives of all current students and become the new norm for a generation of students. Prior to his retirement, Leonard remained steadfast in addressing his duties and the pursuit of excellence for CCES. With this commitment in mind, he sharpened his focus on building the school’s Endowment, one area where CCES can improve among like-sized independent schools. To further his determination to strengthen and sustain the financial health of CCES in perpetuity, the Kupersmith Scholarship Fund has been created in his honor.

Purpose

To honor the tenure and leadership of Dr. Leonard Kupersmith, CCES is creating a named endowment to fund need and merit based awards to recruit and retain distinctive students. The selection of recipients is at the discretion of the head of school in consultation with division directors, the admission director, and the assistant heads of school.

THE KUPERSMITH AWARD CRITERIA ARE:
  • A record and promise of contributions to school life that enhance student life and inspire the faculty. The range of noteworthy attributes runs from outstanding scholarship to exemplary service to others.
  • To be named a Kupersmith Scholar, students either qualify for financial aid or otherwise stretch to fund full tuition.
  • The Head of School will seek to maximize the number of students who receive an award. No award will exceed half tuition.
Gifts/pledges to the Leonard Kupersmith Endowment may be made through cash, stock, planned or
deferred giving. For more information on making a gift to the Leonard Kupersmith Endowment, please
contact Jamie Inman, Assistant Head for Advancement, at 864.299.1522 ext. 1272.


I want to share my gratitude for the privilege of serving as the eighth headmaster of Christ Church Episcopal School. At school and in the community, I have been blessed by friendships, collegiality, and collaboration.

-Leonard Kupersmith
Christ Church Episcopal School (“CCES”) admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at CCES. CCES does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, national or ethnic origin, creed, religion, or sexual orientation in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, financial aid, scholarship or other programs, or athletic or other school-administered programs and activities.